


the sleepwalkers

by bereft_of_frogs



Series: the nine in the tree [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Sleepwalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 21:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18039629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bereft_of_frogs/pseuds/bereft_of_frogs
Summary: [Aboard the Asgardian Ark]The first night aboard the Ark, they sleep in an exhausted pile in an empty room.It's not the only reason they all share a room, but it is the final straw.[Follows directly from'pain and other human sensations', chapter19. Exhaustionthough context is not necessary to understand this story.]





	the sleepwalkers

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: self-harm, blood, implied past torture, nightmares

_The first night aboard the ark they sleep in an exhausted pile in an empty room…_  
  
It takes a week more for them to decide upon the sleeping arrangement that they will ultimately share for the next year and a half.

  
  
[the second night]

Despite their best efforts in the day following that first night on board the Ark, they do not finalize the sleeping arrangements. Progress is hindered by the fact that there are still wounded to be healed, and food to be sorted and distributed, and that the king slept half the day away in an empty room.

“You should have woken me!” He shouts at Valkyrie.

“Relax, majesty, you’d barely have helped anyway,” She says, easily stacking another crate of booze. There’s barely any real food in storage, but plenty of alcohol - another concern to add to the never ending list. “And you needed it, with your eye.”

“My eye feels fine!”

“You’re welcome, by the way,” Loki says from the corner. He is scratching at something on a notepad. There are deep, exhausted bruises beneath his eyes.

“I told you to save your magic.”

Loki rolls his eyes. “It’s not like it’s in any shape to do anything else,” he shoots back. “Now at least _you_ won’t keel over. And I can’t do any more magic, not today at least, so you’ve gotten your wish as well. I hope you’re happy.”

Thor is _not_ happy. Not happy about the dull administrative tasks that plague him throughout the day, not happy about the way he keeps glancing around, expecting Loki to be gone, not happy about the worry and nerves he feels when he sees he’s still there. And grief, when he realizes that they are all that is left of their family and home.

Once rations have been counted and divided up, they begin allocating quarters to their people, setting up dividers and cots. They still don’t finish by the time their clocks start to tilt towards night and they all start wearying.

“We’ve gotten through about half, your majesty,” Heimdall says, checking his chart.

“Alright,” He says. “The rest of us will have to camp in the grand hall.” It was probably a hangar originally. Who knows what the Grandmaster used it for.

“We have already found you a-”

“I can’t,” Thor says. “Not while everyone else is like this. I can’t ask them to…”

“You are the king now, Thor,” Heimdall says. “They will expect that you will be treated differently. Higher.”

“I know, but…” Thor runs his hands through his shorn hair. “So much has changed. So much _has_ to change. And just this one night, I feel I should stay with the people.”

“Fine,” Heimdall finally agrees. “The rest of us will sleep in the hall.”

They set up as many cots and blankets as they can, and arrange themselves a little more orderly than the night before. Thor lays near the front, the Valkyrie at one side and his brother at the other. He doesn’t sleep, awake for a long time listening to the soft breaths and snores of the hundreds of people around him.

He’s just drifting off when another noise startles him back to wakefulness. A low moan, the sound of someone in pain. He freezes, listening carefully for the sound, and opens his eye.

Loki tosses and turns beside him, face twisted. As Thor watches he makes a small sound, deep in his throat, little more than a whimper, and his fists tighten in the blanket.

“Loki!” He whispers, extending a hand. “Loki, wake up!” He has no response but to flinch when Thor touches him. Thor shakes gently. “Brother?”

“No…” He moans, head tossing. His breath comes short now, back arching off the floor. Thor grips Loki’s arm with one hand, cups his neck with the other.

“Loki!” He gives him a firm shake. Loki finally gasps awake, eyes wide and lost as he blinks up at Thor. “It’s okay, you had a nightmare-”

“Don’t touch me!” Loki hisses. He strikes out, pushing Thor away from him and rolls onto his side, turning his back. He curls into a tight ball and breathes raggedly.

“Loki…” Thor reaches out a hand.

“I said _don’t touch me!_ ”

“It’s okay, brother. It was just a nightmare.”

“I know it was a nightmare!” Loki hisses back. “I’m not a child!” He still will not turn around. His breath is easing a bit but Thor can see him shivering in the dim light. He waits a moment, until Loki relaxes a little.

“I’m here,” He says quietly. He thinks he catches a soft, distressed sound, but Loki shows no other sign of having heard him. “That’s all. I’m here.” He lays back down and watches his brother out of the corner of his eye.

It takes a while, but finally Loki’s small shivers stop and he rolls back towards Thor and seems to settle back to slumber. Thor watches him for a while, making sure his breath is even and his expression relaxed. Thor finally falls asleep and when he wakes in the morning, Loki’s gathered a fistful of his blanket, clutching it tightly to his chest.

  
  
[the third night]

That day they finalize the room assignments. After a massive argument that sees the unlikely team of Heimdall, Valkyrie, and Loki ganging up on him, Thor is assigned a large state room, one that _could_ have gone to house a family of eight, at least. At least that’s what he’d yelled at them.

“Your majesty,” Heimdall said patiently. “We have discussed this. Repeatedly.”

“Thor, you have to stop _running_ from this. Being king comes with certain advantages and _accepting_ those advantages solidifies your power, makes it clear that you are an authority,” Loki said. “If you want to keep up this illusion of strength and organization, you must embrace at least some of the trappings.”

“Lackey’s right.”

“I _do_ wish you would stop calling me that.”

“Lackey’s right.” Loki rolled his eyes. “All the golden halls and the pretty clothes, the armor…it wasn’t just for Odin’s fashion sense. It was to make it clear, to everyone, who is in charge.”

“But-”

“Brother, we are in a very precarious position. We just destroyed Asgard after our sister massacred thousands of civilians. We are on the brink - if they choose to rise up, they can unseat you easily.”

“But-”

“The coronation was a good sign. They clearly still like and respect you, they’ll follow you on this journey. But it’s going to be a rough trip. Things are going to get uncomfortable. They might not trust in your leadership when the food’s running short,” The Valkyrie said.

“But if they see that their king is in the same position-”

“They’ll start to question why he is the king at all.”

Thor sighed, his head pulsing in pain. “I can’t keep having this argument.”

“Good,” Loki said, with a wicked smile. “We’re wearing you down.”

“Fine. Fine! I’ll do what you two say. You win. I disagree, but I will do as you say until I come up with a better argument against you!”

Thus, against his better judgment, Thor finds himself turning in to a large, empty room, as the remainder of his people crowd together in the bowels of the ship. He stretches back on the mattress, sighing. It’s quiet, after two nights of sleeping in such close quarters with so many others.

Okay, it was a _little_ nice. The mattress was comfortable, if he didn’t think too long about what kinds of activities the Grandmaster and his sycophants may have done there. And he found a stash of the Grandmaster’s alcohol that they’d missed. So he pours himself a drink, winces at the too sweet taste, and flops back onto the soft mattress. For its taste, the drink’s strong enough, and soon he’s in a deep sleep, tucked into the opulent sheets.

 

“No, _Arkkkk_. With a K.”

“Right. Ark.”

“So they had to get two of each-”

“And why did they have to save the animals again?” The Valkyrie asks.

“Because there was a flood.”

“Why was there a flood?”

“I don’t know,” Bruce sounds very weary. “God hated people? They made him angry? Look it’s been a long time since nursery school, I don’t remember these things, there was this one weird song about unicorns-”

“I swear,” Loki finally says. “I am going to kill you both if you do not shut up.” He cracks an eye open to look at the Valkyrie and Bruce, sitting on the other bed and drinking. Bruce looks disturbed, but the Valkyrie grins.

“Oooh, someone’s cranky. Need your beauty rest, _highness?_ ”

“I need _rest_ , given that I’m the one who’s been doing all the work, while you just sit around and drink-”

“Fine,” She cuts him off. “We’ll be quiet. Satisfied?”

“Hm.” He rolls to his other side, putting his back to them. It makes his skin crawl a bit, to have them at his back, but to move now would undermine his dismissal. They do drop their voices to a whisper, and at some point one of them lowers the lights to a soft glow. Loki will not admit it, but it’s somewhat soothing, to hear their quiet voices, with the light low but not off. It lulls him to sleep.

Not for long.

The Valkyrie is woken, in the middle of the night, with a jolt. It takes a moment, but it quickly becomes apparent what woke her. Loki cries out again, twisting in the sheets.

“No, no, no, _stop!_ ”

“Loki!” She hisses. Bruce is still asleep at her side, snoring. Loki doesn’t wake, trapped in the grip of whatever nightmare holds him. She gets up, carefully crossing the small room. “Come on, highness, wake up!” Loki still doesn’t wake, making a small, pathetic sound deep in his throat. She reaches out, her fingers just brushing his arm.

That’s when he starts screaming.

 

Thor is woken by a pounding on the door. A voice, young-sounding and pitched high with anxiety, calls out to him through the door.

“Your majesty!” The voice calls through the door. “Your majesty, the lady Valkyrie sent me to fetch you, there’s a problem with the prince-” Thor’s stomach sinks, and he hurriedly jumps out of bed and wrenches open the door.

“What happened?”

The young Asgardian gulps and steps back. “This way, your majesty.” He leads Thor down the hall. “The Valkyrie sent me, the prince screams in his sleep and cannot be woken.” That was…not entirely unexpected. After the night before, Thor was aware of Loki’s nightmares, but still, it was not high on his list of possibilities when woken in the middle of the night by ‘problems with the prince.’

In the hall outside their room, Bruce is pressed against the wall, breathing deeply.

“Alright?”

Bruce waves him off. “Just startled,” He says. “No other guy though.” Thor hears the Valkyrie first, her voice firm and desperate.

“Come on, lackey, wake up, you’re better than this, come _on_ …” Loki’s voice is little more than frantic whimpering, nonsensical mutterings. He bursts into the room, to the Valkyrie’s obvious relief. She grips Loki’s wrists tightly, holding him down as he writhes on the mattress.

“What the _hells_ is going on?”

“I don’t know, he just started _screaming_ , I managed to stop that, but he’s still not waking up.”

“Okay, okay, let me try. You can let him go.” She reluctantly releases Loki’s wrists and Thor takes her place. He keeps his touch soft, even as Loki twists away from him. “Loki, it’s alright, it’s just me. Wake up.” He cups his brother’s jaw, turning his face towards him. “Brother, I’m here.” Loki starts awake with a startled gasp, sitting bolt upright. His eyes blink open, focus on Thor’s face. But instead of relief, his expression crumples further. “Loki?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, _I’m sorry_ ,” He gasps, bowing forward and practically cowering before him. “I’m sorry, please, please don’t give me away, please, I’ll do anything…” The words spill frantically from his lips.

“Loki, what-” Loki glances up at him, then shudders, drawing closer into himself. He raises his hands to his head, fisting his fingers in his hair, and braces like he’s expecting a blow.

“Please don’t give me away, don’t give me to _him_ , I’ll do whatever you want, whatever, _please!_ ” Thor takes a deep breath and steadies his own nerves. He raises his hand with an open palm.

“It’s alright,” He says softly. “Loki, I’m not going to…give you away, not to anyone.” He places his hands over Loki’s, clenched to his skull. “Brother, will you look at me?” Loki only flinches away from Thor’s touch. Thor is firm, but soft. He runs his thumbs over Loki’s white knuckles. “Loki, it’s okay. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe.” His breathing slowly begins to ease. “Look at me?” He tries again.

This time it works, and Loki raises his wide eyes to Thor’s. “Don’t give me to him, I swear-”

“Sh sh sh,” Thor says. “It’s okay. Do you know where you are?” Loki blinks, eyes casting around desperately.

“…the ship…Statesman.”

“That’s right, brother. You’re on the ship, you’re safe.”

“You’re not…you don’t…” Loki manages a deep breath in, and out. “A dream.” Thor releases him. He shakes his head to clear it.

“Yes. A nightmare.” His shoulders relax, a trembling hand wiping the tears from his cheek. “I’m not going to give you away.” Loki’s brow furrows and he gives Thor a sharp look.

“What?”

“That’s what you were saying.”

“Oh,” He says faintly. He glances around the room, flushing when he sees the Valkyrie. “Oh, I feel foolish.”

The Valkyrie shakes her head. “We all have our nightmares, highness.” Bruce enters, carrying a glass bottle.

“I’m pretty sure this is just water.” He hands it to Thor, who helps Loki drink deeply when his hands shake too badly to hold it.

“I apologize for waking all of you,” Loki says finally. He will not meet their eyes. “You may return to bed now, I’m fine.” Thor hesitates.

“Loki, you were just-”

“I’m sorry.” And Thor aches to hear the apology. “It will not happen again. And we have work to do in the morning.”

“Loki-”

“Brother, I just want to go back to sleep. And I’m sure the Valkyrie and Dr. Banner will want to as well. It’s fine.” Thor sighs. He glances at the Valkyrie, who nods at him.

“I’ll come get you, if he wakes again.”

“See?” Loki still will not look at him. Thor caves.

“Alright,” He says. Loki tolerates him kissing his temple, squeezing his shoulder. “Goodnight, brother.” He leaves as they settle back into bed.

It takes him several drinks in the Grandmaster’s suite to calm down enough to sleep.

  
  
[the fourth night]

At breakfast, he sinks onto the bench across from Loki, who does not look quite rested.

“So-”

“No.”

“No? Loki, we have to talk about this.”

“It was a nightmare. I already apologized for waking you, we do not need to discuss this further.”

“That was the second night in a row.”

“Your point?”

“It’s getting worse,” He tries to level Loki with a firm stare, but his brother returns it in equal measure. “Last night, you didn’t respond to us and when you did-”

“I said I was-”

“It was disturbing, Loki.” Thor reaches across the table and grasps his wrist tightly. Loki tenses and moves to pull away but cannot budge Thor’s grip. “You’re frightening me.”

“If I assure you that _I’m fine_ , will you leave me alone?”

“No.” Loki sighs. “Tell me what’s wrong. Why did you think I was going to give you away? To who-”

“Stop.” Loki’s voice is firm, dangerous. Thor fears further driving him away.

“Fine. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“Will you let me go?” Thor releases his wrist and Loki draws his arms closer to his body, out of Thor’s grip. “They are just nightmares. That is all.”

“Alright, brother,” He says quietly.  
  

They all sleep straight through the night.

  
  
[the fifth night]

Thor can’t sleep the next night. The quiet had been a relief the night before but tonight feels oppressive. He’s half waiting for someone to come wake him with another calamity. He wonders if the others are having trouble sleeping as well.

After hours of unsuccessfully trying to sleep, Thor rises with a groan. He can’t just keep _lying_ there. A walk around the ship would do him good.

He takes a long, meandering stroll through the metallic halls, lit by the soft blue glow from the floor lighting. He sees no one else on his journey, until he arrives at the main hall.

Loki stands in the window, silhouetted by the stars.

“You can’t sleep either, brother?” That garners no response. “I could see why you’d come up here, the stars are beautiful.” Nothing. Thor now draws level with Loki, and sees that his eyes are open but unfocused. He sways faintly, and is muttering something under his breath. “Loki?” He shows no sign of registering Thor’s approach, or where he is.

Sleepwalking. Huh. That was new.

“Okay, brother,” He whispers. “Time to go back to bed.” Sif had had a problem with sleepwalking when they were children. Thor tries to remember what their nurses had done for her. Try not to wake her, return her to a safe place, bed ideally. That’s all he can recall. “We can’t have you wandering around, you’ll only get yourself into trouble.” He keeps his voice low and soothing, trying to fill the suddenly eery silence of the ship, and drown out Loki’s half-conscious mutterings. He can start to make out some of what he’s saying.

“Let me try again,” He whispers, over and over. “Start it over, start it over, let it be over.”

Thor furrows his brow. “Start what over?”

Loki’s faint swaying turnings into more purposeful rocking back and forth. “Let it be over, let it be over.”

“It’s over,” Thor says. “Whatever you’re seeing, brother, it’s over.” Still no response. “I think we’ve had enough of this.” With soft hands, he turns Loki away from the window and nudges him in the direction of the sleeping quarters. Loki stumbles on the few steps leading down from the platform and Thor has to catch him, holding him up by the elbows. He supports him, gently pulling him back towards safety.

They make it about halfway, Thor growing increasingly unnerved by Loki’s repeated mutterings and how limp and pliable he is. Suddenly, Loki stops short.

“Brother?” Loki shows no sign of waking. “Loki, we’re almost there-” Loki’s knees buckle and he is spared from hitting the floor only because Thor had already been holding him up. He breathes evenly and deeply, and when Thor checks his pulse it is slow, but not dangerously so. It appears he has just fallen back to a more normal sleep. “That will make this easier, at least,” Thor mutters to himself. He slides one arm across his shoulders, the other under his legs and he scoops Loki into his arms. He doesn’t stir. After a moment’s hesitation at the fork in the hall, he makes up his mind and carries Loki back to his own suite. He tells himself it’s because he doesn’t want to disturb Bruce and the Valkyrie, but a voice in his head that sounds a bit like Loki’s calls him out for the lie.

The sheets are twisted and disorganized from his tossing and turning earlier. He lays Loki down and gathers them up, tucking them a little tighter than might be necessary. Then he slides in the other side, lays one arm over his brother to prevent any more nocturnal wanderings, and goes to sleep.

  
  
[the sixth night]

The next morning he is woken by a sharp elbow to the stomach.

“Let go of me!” Comes Loki’s snarl. Thor, still wheezing from having the air driven from his lungs by the blow, releases his hold on his brother’s body. Loki sits up and begins trying to untangle himself from the sheets. “ _What_ am I doing in your bed?” He shouts.

“Shh, it’s too early. Go back to sleep.”

“I will _not_ go back to sleep, not until you explain yourself.”

“You were sleepwalking.”

Loki scoffs. “A likely story, I do _not_ sleepwalk.”

“You were. I found you by the window in the hall, muttering something odd to yourself. You were clearly asleep, you had no response to my voice or my touch. I had to bring you back here, I couldn’t just let you wander around the ship in your sleep, you’d have fallen down an airshaft or something.” Loki has gone very pale. He finishes untangling himself from the blankets and stalks off without another word. Thor sighs.

He doesn’t see Loki for the rest of the day.

 

Thor only glimpses him from afar at meals, and sneakily checks to make sure Loki retires to his assigned room with the Valkyrie and Bruce.

Thor is almost ready for it this time. Almost. Just past midnight, he goes to check and finds his brother’s bed empty once again, so he heads straight to the main hangar and the window on the stars.

There Loki stands, swaying, in his bedclothes much as he had been the night before. Thor sighs and quietly approaches. But something is different. Something is _off_. It might be the knife in his hand.

The dagger is loose in his left hand and Thor slows his approach.

“Loki,” He says softly. Loki’s muttering something again, though it doesn’t sound like the same phrases as the night before. “Shhh, it’s just me. Give me the knife.” He can hear what Loki’s muttering now.

“It’s mine, it’s _mine_ ,” Over and over. Then he raises the dagger and slashes it across his own palm.

Thor cries in shock and lunges for him, grabbing him much more roughly that he should have. Loki comes awake in his arms with a howl and starts to struggle. Thor can see now a line of cuts down Loki’s palm, a small puddle of blood on the floor. His eyes widen with horror. How long had his brother been standing here, cutting at his own hand in his sleep?

“Loki! It’s me! It’s alright, let go of the blade!” Loki does not, or cannot, hear him. Thor just holds on, trying in vain to get him to drop the knife between violent struggles.

Then Heimdall is there, looking as shocked and confused as Thor is.

“Help me get the knife!” As Heimdall makes for the hand holding the knife, Thor’s grip slips on the slick blood. Loki wrenches his arm out of Thor’s grip and before Heimdall can stop him, he plunges the dagger straight through his own hand.

“We must hold him still!” It takes another minute, and they end up on the floor, but finally Thor manages to pin Loki’s body to his own, holding his uninjured wrist tight to his chest. Heimdall grips the injured arm tightly, trying to prevent the blade from moving in the wound and causing more damage.

“Let me go!” Loki sobs. “Please, let me _go!_ ”

“No,” Thor says in his ear. Loki stills, gasping in an inhale. “I’m not going to let you go until I’m sure you won’t hurt yourself.”

“…Thor? What?” Loki shudders in his arms. “What’s going on?”

“You’ve injured your hand, my prince,” Heimdall says calmly. “If I let you go, will you promise not to move it before I return with bandages?”

“Promise? But I was…” He twists his head around, struggling against Thor’s grip. “Where am I?”

“You’re on the ship,” Thor says. “The Statesman, remember? You were sleepwalking again. You’re in the hall.”

“Sleepwalking.”

“Yes, my prince,” Heimdall says. “Now, may I go retrieve bandages?”

Loki still looks bewildered, shocked, but he nods. “I will hold still.”

“Good.” Heimdall leaves them sitting on the floor. Loki pushes at the arms holding him, but Thor’s grip doesn’t budge.

“Are you going to let me go?”

“No.”

“Thor, I’ve clearly returned to rationality, you may let me _go_.” Loki’s voice is high and strained.

“Not until Heimdall returns and we take care of your hand.” Loki sobs and goes limp against his chest, the fight wrung out of him. Thor makes an effort to grip him in a manner more soothing than restraining, though he does not let up. “Does it hurt? Your hand?”

“A bit.”

“I think you’re still in shock. What were you dreaming of?” Loki shudders and Thor doesn’t press him further. “Shh, you’re alright now.”

“I’m afraid I’m…I’m…” Thor doesn’t precisely know how Loki’s going to finish the sentence. Probably something along the lines of _losing my mind, going insane_ , etc.

“Shhh,” He says in his ear. “They’re just nightmares. It’s going to be alright.” Heimdall returns with bandages and a clean basin of water. Thor tightens his grip, keeping Loki still as Heimdall slowly draws out the knife. Loki barely tenses, though the pull of the knife must be causing him pain. He does turn his face away, which Thor finds surprising. He’s never known Loki to be squeamish.

“It doesn’t seem like it has hit any of the nerves, or bones, your highness,” Heimdall says. “I expect it should be healed by tomorrow night.” He cleans and wraps the wounds. “I suggest we retire to a more private space. There is a sort of lounge not far, with water and couches that might be more comfortable than the floor.” Thor releases his grip on Loki, and allows Heimdall to pull him out of Thor’s arms and onto his feet. He follows, catching Loki by the elbows as he sways.

“Come, brother,” He says. “I’ve got you.” Loki says nothing else, just clutches his bandaged hand to his chest and allows Thor to poke and prod him to one of the Grandmaster’s lounges. His eyes are already growing distant and foggy, unconsciousness dragging on him, by the time Thor settles him on the couch.

“Stay with him,” Heimdall instructs. “I’ll go clear up the blood before one of the civilians finds it.”

Thor makes Loki drink water, then sits, pulling Loki’s head into his lap. That he allows it speaks more to his return to unconsciousness than even his drooping eyelids. Heimdall returns, and drapes a blanket over them.

“It’s getting worse,” Thor says. “I don’t know what to do. He keeps…but I fear pushing him too far. I fear he will flee from me if I press him, and only end up in a worse situation. How am I supposed to take care of him? What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You’re doing your best, Thor. That is all we can do.  All we can do is make sure he’s safe, and wait for him to come to us.” Heimdall rests a hand on Loki’s shoulder, covered by the blanket. “Loki has suffered more than we know, I believe. His has not been an easy path since his fall. You’re right. Forcing him to talk may only serve to drive him away. For now, show him that you will not allow him to hurt himself or others, but that if he remains here he will be safe and taken care of. He will come to you, eventually, and we will get more of the picture of what happened.”

“And if it gets worse?”

“Then you may have to force him to tell you the truth, for his own safety. Now, get some rest, your majesty. I will keep watch.”

“Thank you,” Thor says, and truly means it.

  
  
[the seventh night]

Loki wakes in the morning, again annoyed at finding himself not in his own bed. Doubly angry, for his head being pillowed in Thor’s lap.

“Just _what_ do you think you’re-” He moves to rise but winces in clear pain when he braces himself on his hand. “Ah!” He pulls it closer to his chest. “So this was not a dream.”

“No,” Thor sits up, rubbing a crick out of his neck. He’d slumped against the couch’s armrest when he fell asleep, his head bent at an odd angle. “It was not a dream.” Thor desperately wants to confront him on it, but remembers Heimdall’s words from the night before. He swallows down any questions or accusations, instead holding out a hand. “May I?” Loki allows him to take his wounded hand between his own. He unwraps it to reveal the slices have narrowed to thin lines, though the puncture wound in the center is still wide and weeping blood. He carefully wraps it back up with clean bandages then steals a glance at Loki’s face.

He looks disturbed, frightened even.

“It’s going to be alright,” Loki’s eyes flit from his hand to Thor’s face. “It will be healed by tonight, if you’re careful with it. Your hand will be good as new before you know it.” Loki nods.

“Thank you, brother.” Thor releases his arm and Loki holds it close to his chest again. He shies away, like a wounded animal, desperate to avoid additional pain.  
       

Thor summons Loki, the Valkyrie, Bruce, and Heimdall to the main hall after lunch, where he’s set up a table and chairs. His own small council.

“Sit down you four,” Thor says when they arrive. They glance at each other but follow Thor’s order. “We need to talk about these sleeping arrangements and living quarters.”

“Not this again,” Loki says.

“I’ve been reviewing the arrangements,” Thor spreads out a sheet of paper where they had draw up the plans of the ship. “And I think I’ve found a flaw. Before you argue with me, hear me out. I’ve thought a lot about this and I understand your positions, but we must think pragmatically if we’re going to keep the conditions aboard the Ark livable.”

“Oh Norns, he’s got you calling it that as well,” The Valkyrie groans.

“It’s a good name! Very appropriate, if you knew-”

“Yes. There’s an oversight. Obviously, we’ve ended up with quite a few orphans aboard the ship. Most have been taken in by relatives, and were properly accounted for, but there were several others who do not have any remaining living relatives and are being fostered by other families.” Heimdall is quiet. He and Thor exchange a glance and he nods slightly, strengthening Thor’s resolve.

“Your point, brother?”

“Most are fine, but one family took in _three_ siblings. And two of their number were already pregnant when we left Asgard. They are fast outgrowing the space allotted them.”

“Let me guess, your majesty, you want to give them your room.”

“If we put up a divider the family will be quite comfortable housed, and we can use the other half as a nursery.”

“And where, exactly, will you sleep, brother?” Loki’s glare is accusatory.

“Come, Loki.” Thor grins. “It won’t be so bad.”

“It will be. You move far too much in your sleep. And you snore.”

“At least he doesn’t sleepwalk, or talk in his sleep,” The Valkyrie says pointedly. Loki’s cheeks turn scarlet. He surges to his feet.

“Fine. _Fine_. Since you’ve clearly thought about this so much, and already gotten the others on your side, _fine_.” He stalks off, leaving the other’s staring after him.

“Thor,” Bruce says. “Are you sure this is a good idea? He could stab you in your sleep, or suffocate you…probably come up with a thousand other things to do. Couldn’t we just find him a nice little hidey-hole. One where we could lock the door, keep him from wandering around the ship at night?”

“Or I’m sure the Grandmaster’s got some concoction that will keep him asleep.”

“I will _not_ see my brother caged, or drugged.” Thor folds the ship’s plans. “This is what we’re going to do. I have made my decision and it is final. Or do you question your king’s orders?” That finally silences argument.

On her way out, the Valkyrie gives him a crooked smile. “You know, you’re finally starting to sound like a king, your majesty.”

Thor’s not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not.

 

Retiring to bed that night is a somewhat tense and awkward affair, but Thor bulldozes through the tension by entirely ignoring it.

“Goodnight, brother,” He whispers, overly brightly, as they settle and the lights dim. Loki does not answer him. He won’t look at him either, curled on his side, facing away. He practically vibrates with tension.

But as their breaths even out, he unwinds, and drifts off to sleep.

Thor is woken a few hours later by a whimper. Loki is arching back, hands tightly fisted in the blankets. His head tosses and he gasps.

“Shhh, Loki,” Thor whispers. He keeps his touch gentle, gripping his arm. “It’s alright.”

“I can’t _breathe_ ,” Loki gasps out. “I can’t-”

“Shhh, you can.” Thor pulls him closer towards him, softly rubbing his arm. “It’s alright.” Without ever really surfacing from the nightmare, Loki eases back into a deeper sleep.

“I tried that, the first night,” The Valkyrie whispers to him from across the room. Thor keeps up the gentle motion on his brother’s arm. “I thought he was going to take my eyes out.”

“I wouldn’t take it to heart,” Thor whispers.

“Have you asked him yet? What he dreams of?” Thor frowns.

“Not yet. Soon.” He looks at Loki’s face, finally relaxed. “I don’t want to pressure him.”

“You’d better. Those kinds of nightmares…something happened. Something bad.” Thor looks down at his brother’s quietly sleeping form and sighs.

“What happened to you, brother?” He whispers. “Where did you go?”

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, deliciously self-indulgent nightmare whump, with bonus sleepwalking. I have no shame. 
> 
> Follow me on the tumblr at [bereft-of-frogs](https://bereft-of-frogs.tumblr.com/), for more horrendously self-indulgent fandom shenanigans. (Though I am currently in a self-imposed exile until I see _Captain Marvel_ on Saturday.)


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